Lorraine
by J3T'sBlackDahlia
Summary: Aiden has always been able to escape to Lorraine, a magical world of her very own. WHen she experiences something that rattles her core she has to choose what world she will live in.
1. The Party

Chapter 1

Date January 1, 2009

HAPPY NEWYEAR! The phrase seemed to be uttered up to seconds after the ball dropped in Time Square and for up to days after.

_How childish. _Aiden thought to herself as she sat in the only place in this world that gave her comfort. Her room. Her room held everything she needed to survive: a bed, a computer, and a small journal in which she wrote her thoughts out; and her dreams. Though to Aiden they weren't dreams at all. The images and journeys she experienced were as real as the skin on her body.

Aiden often sat in silence in her room. It was a way to get away and still remain in this realm. The only time she ever was aloud to roam Lorraine was when the entire world seemed to be asleep. Every night of the year she visited the foreign land. Every night that was except for New Years Eve. On this night all of America held a competition to see who would be able to see the ball drop, and who would be deprived of this privilege. All of America was up to party. She couldn't afford to escape. Not with her mother downstairs… awake.

Privilege

Tap tap.

The sound broke her concentration. There was only one person it could be. The only person in the house, besides herself, that seemed to be minutely coherent.

"Yes, mother" Aiden answered to the still closed door.

"May I come in?" Aiden could actually hear the alcohol affecting her voice. "I want to talk to you. Check on you. I just want to make sure you're alright."

"Ya, one second." Aiden got up from her bed and leisurely walked over to her door. When she opened it she found her mother leaned up against the door frame attempting to hold herself up.

"Hey sweetie, how are you?" her mom asked, stumbling over her words and into Aiden's room.

"Um, I'm fine mom. How is the party going? Is Stephanie still able to walk strait, or walk period for that matter?" Aiden asked with a hint of distain in her voice.

"Oh it's great! I really wish you would go down there and at least have something to drink." Aiden's mom, Kate, offered her the drink she had in her hands. Aiden openly refused it.

"That's great, mom. The only parent in the entire world that will let her daughter drink and her daughter doesn't like the smell, taste, or experience of alcohol."

"Hey, it was only an offer; no one is going to force you to do anything. There is no need for your attitude, missy."

"You're right mom. I'm sorry. I'm just not in a partying mood." She offered with a crooked smile.

"It's fine, I just wish you would try to talk to people instead of staying cooped up in this musky room of yours. It's not healthy." Her mom commented as she stumbled back out the door and down the stairs.

Truth be told, Aiden never wanted to do anything that involved inhibiting her ability to get into Lorraine. Some time after her mother fell asleep she had every intention of going to Lorraine and spending every second she could in her own separate world.


	2. The Door

Chapter 2

Date: January 1, 2009

4 a.m.

It wasn't until 3:35 in the morning that Aiden began to hear the sounds of her house falling asleep. As she lay in bed; she wondered what could be awaiting her in her forbidden realm. Dragons? Magic? Daniel?

Daniel was life in Lorraine. The whole reason Aiden continued to defy what was considered right and normal every night. For all his flaws, Aiden never entertained the thought that he would be her Significant. A Significant, by its very nature, is the one person, animal, or entity in Lorraine whose main goal was to see their Correspondent (human) succeed in Lorrainian life. Should they choose to live in that realm for the rest of their existence. But to Aiden, Daniel was something more. He was love. It was his face that made the urge to return so unbelievably impossible to deny.

As the clock struck 4, Aiden began mentally preparing herself for the trip to Lorraine. There was a silent meditation that had to take place before the door to Lorraine would appear. The all consuming silence surrounded Aiden and at last the glittering white door appeared in her room. She ran to it.

"The one thing I ask you to do, is to open to those who are true" upon saying these words the door to Lorraine opened, revealing a world unlike her own.

She ran into Lorraine and embraced everything it had to offer. With arms wide open she took in the splendor that was her own hidden world. The rivers ran white with power and the grass green and copious. The sky was different shades of blue, purple, pink, and orange as the sun began to rise in Lorraine. Moments later Daniel came out from his hiding spot behind the Tree of Sentiment.

"Why, Hello there." He said with a smile whose light surpassed that of the rising sun.

"Hello, Daniel. How has She been?" She referring to the land upon which they were walking.

"She has been absolutely splendid!" he replied with sheer ecstasy written across his face.

"That's fantastic." She replied, though she really had another topic on her mind. "What have you planned for us today? A walk with the Centaurs in the Valley of Myrtle? Oh, or how about another swim in the Sea of Goad?"

"I have planned neither. Instead today I am going to teach you a little about Lorraine's darker half. The half no one dares talk about since the Great Peace has fallen upon our land."

"Oh." The only word that seemed to come clearly to her mind. She had only heard stories about the ones the Lore's called the Embalmed. Stories have been swimming around that they were the soul cause of the Spirit that is the Great Peace's dissention on Lorraine.

"Does that upset you, Aiden? If so I am sure that the Monarchs would not mind a visit or perhaps a stroll threw their estates garden." He offered as a condolence for having potentially upset her.

"No, I wouldn't want plans to change. I need to be inducted into Lorraine as soon as I possibly can. I don't think I can bear another year on Earth." She replied with a mournful smile.

"Alright lets set off then. The sooner we get to the Shadow Land the sooner we can get out unharmed, hopefully."

Daniel knew that Aiden hated that word though it was the only way to fully show the dangers of the Shadow Land. So in silence they set off to the forbidden land.


	3. The Gate

Chapter 3

January 1, 2009

4:36 a.m.

Aiden and Daniel strolled threw Lorraine for what seemed like seconds. Time passed which made it hard to tell what time it was on Earth. They walked threw the Valley of the Shoal. Threw the Meadow of Enlightenment. To Aiden, the Shadow Land seemed to be on the other side of Lorraine. When she finally felt her body beginning to give up she saw it. The gate into the Shadow Land.

"What do we say to enter?" she whispered, afraid that the Embalmed were listening.

"Nothing. We have to offer a sacrifice." He replied.

"What sacrifice. No one told me about a fucking sacrifice." She began to raise her voice in frustration. If there was anything Aiden hated more than interruptions it was the thought of taking the life of another being.

"Calm yourself. The only way to enter the gates is to offer the sacrifice of a branch from the Tree of Knowledge. NOT everything having to do with the Embalmed is mortally terrifying." He said with a chuckle.

"Oh." _Good_ she thought to herself.

They wondered into the forest and found the sacred Tree of Knowledge. Before taking its limb they had to offer a drop of blood, to determine whether or not they were worthy. Daniel offered his. Deeming him worthy the Tree willingly offered them a branch and they continued on their way.

Once again returning to the gate, they offered it the branch and they were granted entrance. Upon entering they found the Tower. The Tower of the King of the Embalmed.


	4. Embalmed

Chapter 4

January 1, 2009

5:00 a.m.

Aiden and Daniel continued passed the tower without looking back. There wasn't time for that, not when the sun of the Earth was going to begin rising. They stumbled upon a path that lead to who knows where. But they followed it and came upon a lake surrounded by the village of the Embalmed. Slowly they walked on the outskirts of the village and prayed that they wouldn't get caught. But soon after they got half way around the lake there was a snapping of a twig, the sound of which attracted the attention of the entire tribe.

They ran. They ran like their life depended upon it because it did. This one time Daniel permitted Aiden to look back and behind them she saw the Embalmed close behind. The creatures were of a nature Aiden had never seen before. Their eyes were red as the blood Daniel offered to the Tree of Knowledge. The skin that was attached to their bones was grey with patches of brown and black. They were in essence the rejects of Lorraine. The entities that the Lores' didn't want to associate with. They were demons. Demons who didn't want to be disturbed.

"Daniel!" Aiden screamed over the sound of snapping twigs and crunching leaves.

"Aiden, hurry, run go leave this place before they catch you!" he exclaimed

"I can't leave you Daniel. I won't. Not now. You need me as much as I need you."

Quickly Daniel did the only thing he could think of that would save Aiden's life.

"I don't need you!"

And with those four words Aiden's hear was as smashed as the leaves they were running over. She stopped for a split second and looked behind her. Daniel was quickly being surrounded by the Embalmed. She continued running until she heard Daniel scream. When she heard his pain she stopped and turned and ran back with all the strength that was in her body. Upon arriving at his body she saw that the Embalmed had every intention of coming back for her. She picked up his body and together they stumbled back out of the forest, passed they tower, and out of the gates.

When Aiden couldn't support his weight anymore she dropped his body in the Valley of Shoal. It wasn't until then that she realized that Daniel was barely holding on to the life he had retained while exiting the Shadow Land.


	5. The Valley

Chapter 5

January 1, 2009

5:20 a.m.

As Aiden sat and stared at the body of Daniel, he continued to loose precious life. The only thing that she thought she could do was give him every ounce of power she had left inside of herself. The power that permitted her to continue entering Lorraine. It was the only way Daniel would ever make it through the dark veil of death. So she did it.

Once again Aiden sat and meditated on the power of the door. When she could feel it she inscribed a message in it to Daniel and placed her hands on his chest and transferred the energy. Once she could feel his heart beating on its own she used the last of it to make the door appear and she exited Lorraine for the last time.

When she saw the door back to Earth she reluctantly opened it. The open door revealed the Earth she had left only hours before, the same room, the same windows, the same world. She sat on her bed and cried herself to sleep for the first of many nights to come.

She cried for Daniel. She cried for the fact that her escape was now impossible. She cried because Lorraine and all the beauty offered there, even the Shadow Land, was now unattainable.

When the sun rose on Earth she awoke to many people passed out on the floor of her house, and to a hung over mother. She awoke to the boring cycle that was and earthly existence. She awoke to the world she would be living in for the rest of her existence.


	6. Inscription

_Daniel, I know that when you awake all will seem like a dream, a faint memory of what happened. Your body now flows with the power to transport back and forth between Lorraine and Earth. If what you said in the Shadow Land is true I would ask that you don't come to Earth, or if you do, do not look for me. If it was a lie I need you to come to earth and tell me. Either way I hope for nothing but the best for you. Though Earth was the place I never was suppose to be, I guess you meant more to me. I love you and I pray that you know that it is true. _

_Your friend _

_Aiden Kilduff _


End file.
